The present study has been undertaken to investigate the effects of garlic added to food on the activities of several enzymes in serum of rats fed lard and alcohol. Thirty-five males of Sprague-Dawley strains weighed about 130g were divided into 7 groups, each group receiving a different diet for 10 weeks; i.e. basal diet plus 15% lard, basal diet plus 5010 alcohol, basal diet plus 0.5% garlic, basal diet plus 15% lard and 0.5% garlic. Determinations were carried out on the net weight gain, food efficiency ratio, weight of organs, and AST, ALT, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phoaphatase activities in serum of rata. The results obtained were as follows: Rats given feed containing lard and alcohol showed significant decrease in net weight gain, but garlic caused an increase in food efficiency ratio. Lard supplementation caused an increase in the weight of liver, kidney, spleen, but another groups did not. AST, ALT, ALP, LDH of serum were significantly increased in lard and alcohol containing group but garlic feeding decreased enzyme activities compared to lard and alcohol containing group. The above results suggest that garlic would prevent the metabolic disease of liver by improving hyperlipemia caused by high fat diet.

In this study, the inhibitory activities of fifty plant extracts on IgE-mediated degranulation in the rat basophilic leukemia cell line (RBL-2H3 cells) were measured; the release of interleukin (IL)-4 and β-hexosaminidase from IgE-sensitized cells treated with the plant extracts was measured; and the effects of the plant extracts on cell viability were tested. The results of the analysis of plant extracts at 20 ㎍/㎖, including the aerial part of Magnolia sieboldii K. Koch, exhibited suppressive activities upon the release of IL-4. Furthermore, several plant extracts including methanol extracted from Lindera erythrocarpa Makino (aerial part) at the same concentration significantly inhibited the release of β-hexosaminidase. Twenty-six of the plant extracts, including methanol extract of Weigela subsessilis (Nakai) L. H. Bailey (branch), showed a cell proliferation effect of over 80% at 100 ㎍/㎖. In conclusion, the results suggest that the leaf/stem of Geum japonicum Thunb. and the stamen/ovary of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., which exhibited effective inhibition on β-hexosaminidase release and IL-4 release from mast cells and showed high cell viability, could be useful candidates as anti-allergy materials.